1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus for an endoscope, more particularly to an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus for an endoscope of a type which cleans an endoscope immersed in a cleaning liquid with ultrasonic waves.
2. Description of Related Art
A typical endoscope requires cleaning and sterilization after the use. A cleaning apparatus for the endoscope cleans and sterilizes the entire endoscope by immersing the endoscope in a cleaning liquid or a sterilizing solution in a cleaning vessel. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6-7290 discloses an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus for an endoscope which cleans the endoscope by radiating ultrasonic waves from an ultrasonic vibrator. This ultrasonic cleaning apparatus uses a cleaning vessel that is made of stainless steel, because the cleaning vessel requires a strength as strong as being resistant to the radiation of the ultrasonic waves.
However, since the stainless cleaning vessel easily transmits vibrations of the ultrasonic waves, the ultrasonic waves radiated from the ultrasonic vibrators and the ultrasonic waves generated from the ultrasonic vibrators through the cleaning vessel interference with each other, and the cleaning efficiency is lowered.
Moreover, since the stainless cleaning vessel is heavy, the ultrasonic cleaning apparatus in its entirety must be heavy (e.g., about 105 kg), which causes the difficulty with moving the ultrasonic cleaning apparatus. Further, the cleaning vessel is arranged at a height of an operator""s lower back, which is an upper part in the ultrasonic cleaning apparatus, thus the heavier the cleaning vessel is, the less stabilized the device is, because the device has a center of gravity at the upper part of itself. Furthermore, the ultrasonic cleaning apparatus must be large in its entirety because the heavier the cleaning vessel is, the sturdier the frame needs to be for supporting the cleaning vessel.
In addition, the conventional ultrasonic cleaning apparatus for an endoscope cleans the endoscope by radiating an ultrasonic wave of one type of frequency. However, contamination in the endoscope differs depending on sections such as a top end, a hand control part, and a connector part, and besides, the sections of endoscope differ in shape. Because of that, despite radiating an ultrasonic wave of one type of frequency, the entire endoscope cannot be efficiently cleaned.
As a cleaning apparatus using an ultrasonic wave, an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus is known which changes ultrasonic waves of plural frequencies one at a time for a certain time period so as to clean the endoscope. Yet, because the ultrasonic cleaning apparatus radiates ultrasonic waves of plural frequencies one by one, the device takes a long time for cleaning.
The present invention has been developed in view of the above-described circumstances, and has as its object the provision of an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus for an endoscope which can prevent the cleaning efficiency from being lowered due to the interference of the ultrasonic waves while providing a light-weighted cleaning vessel. The present invention also aims at providing an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus for an endoscope that can efficiently clean the entire endoscope in a short period of time.
In order to achieve the above-described objects, the present invention is directed to an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus for an endoscope, comprising: a cleaning vessel made of synthetic resin, the cleaning vessel holding a cleaning liquid in which the endoscope is immersed; and an ultrasonic generator which applies ultrasonic waves to the cleaning liquid so as to clean the endoscope, the ultrasonic generator comprising an ultrasonic vibrator and a diaphragm, the ultrasonic vibrator being attached to the cleaning vessel through the diaphragm.
According to the present invention, a resin cleaning vessel which transmits less vibration than metal is used; thus the vibration caused by the ultrasonic wave is not easily transmitted through the cleaning vessel, and the cleaning efficiency is not lowered due to the interference of the ultrasonic waves. As a result, the endoscope can be efficiently cleaned.
The cleaning Vessel is made of synthetic resin, so that the cleaning vessel can be light-weighted. Thus, the present invention can achieve the light-weighted and small-sized ultrasonic cleaning apparatus as well as stabilizing the device by positioning the center of gravity of the device at a bottom part of the device.
The ultrasonic vibrator is attached to the resin cleaning vessel through the diaphragm; thus the resin cleaning vessel is not damaged by the vibration caused by the ultrasonic wave, unlike the case where the ultrasonic vibrator is directly attached to the resin cleaning vessel.
Preferably, a plurality of ultrasonic vibrators are arranged to face sections where the contamination is high in the endoscope which is contained in the cleaning vessel, thus the cleaning apparatus can concentrate cleaning to the sections where the contamination is high.
The ultrasonic cleaning apparatus securely prevents the cleaning vessel from being damaged by placing an elastic body between the cleaning vessel and the diaphragm, because the vibrations that the cleaning vessel receives are reduced by the diaphragm.
Preferably, by making the diaphragm with metal (e.g., stainless steel or titanium), the ultrasonic vibrators do not fall off which causes lowered cleaning efficiency, because the metal ultrasonic vibrators can be securely adhered to the diaphragm.
Preferably, the ultrasonic cleaning apparatus further comprises at least one additional ultrasonic generator applying ultrasonic waves of a different frequency from the former ultrasonic generator. Thus, the entire endoscope can be efficiently cleaned by simultaneously radiating ultrasonic waves of optimum frequencies for the respective sections of the endoscope.
The plural ultrasonic vibrators with different frequencies may be attached to one diaphragm; thus, a computed intermingled wave can be formed without noises of other diaphragms. In the present invention, plural cleaning effects can be achieved at the same time like a case where the ultrasonic waves with different frequencies are radiated one at a time for a certain time period. The device of the present invention can thereby efficiently clean the endoscope in a short period of time.
The ultrasonic cleaning apparatus of the present invention also inhibits the vibration caused, by the ultrasonic waves to be transmitted from the respective ultrasonic vibration units through the cleaning vessel by making the cleaning vessel with synthetic resin. Therefore, the ultrasonic waves radiated from the ultrasonic vibration units are inhibited to interference with each other.